German Chancellor Angela Merkel was set to start a two-day visit to Turkey on Sunday, aiming to discuss ways to speed up the country's EU accession talks, dpa reports.
On Sunday, Merkel was scheduled to visit 300 German soldiers stationed in southern Turkey as part of the NATO mission to defend against Syrian missile attacks.
The chancellor is to meet President Abdullah Gul und Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Monday for talks on Turkey's stalled accession negotiations, which started in 2005.